Key events
Full standings after Monaco GP
Drivers’ standings
1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 161pts
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) 158
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 136
4 George Russell (Mercedes) 99
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 79
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 63
7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 48
8 Alexander Albon (Williams) 42
9 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 20
10 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) 15
11 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 14
12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) 12
13 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) 10
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 7
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 6
16 Oliver Bearman (Haas) 6
17 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 4
Constructors’ standings
1 McLaren 319pts
2 Mercedes 147
3 Red Bull 143
4 Ferrari 142
5 Williams 54
6 Haas 26
7 Racing Bulls 22
8 Aston Martin 14
9 Alpine 7
10 Sauber 6
Full results and points
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:40:33.843 – 25pts
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +3.131s – 18pts
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +3.658 – 15pts
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +20.572 – 12pts
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +51.387 – 10pts
6 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1 lap – 8pts
7 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1 lap – 6pts
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1 lap – 4pts
9 Alexander Albon (Williams) +2 laps – 2pts
10 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2 laps – 1pt
11 George Russell (Mercedes) +2 laps
12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +2 laps
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2 laps
14 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +2 laps
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +2 laps
16 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +2 laps
17 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +2 laps
18 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +3 laps
NC Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF
NC Pierre Gasly (Alpine) DNF
Max Verstappen speaks!
You can’t race here anyway so it doesn’t matter what you do. I was in the lead but my tyres were gone. I don’t think [the enforced two-stop rule] has worked.
We were almost doing Mario Kart – we could have been throwing bananas around … slippery surface.
There was nothing to lose. I could probably have done four stops and [finished in the] same position. I don’t think we had the pace anyway to fight the guys ahead. P4 is definitely the best we could have.
The two Williams drivers came ninth and 10th.
They each reflected on the two-stop needs of the race, and the tactics that ensued …
Carlos Sainz (ninth place) said:
It is definitely something I don’t like to do. It put us into panic mode. I’m just a bit disappointed. People are going to manipulate the final result with their driving.
I don’t know about the front but in the middle it backfired. I’m happy for F1 to try things. For me it didn’t work, at least in midfield. Maybe we just need to forbid the pace manipulation.
A good day in general for the team but I must say this is not the way I like to race. It’s not the way I dream of racing in Monaco.
Alex Albon (10th) added …
It’s not how we want to go racing. I know we put on a bad show for everyone and made a few angry drivers behind us. It’s just frustrating.
Apologies to everyone who watched that because it wasn’t very pretty. Once we knew this was going to be a thing … sorry!
Zak Brown speaks!
The McLaren CEO is in buoyant mood after his drivers took first and third …
What a great race. It was a little more exciting than we’d like! It was great … pretty much a perfect weekend. A big day for points. Monaco – it’s the big one. Pretty cool.
I reminded Oscar, you’re bummed [at finishing third] but you’re still leading the championship – they’re both up for it. I think he’s very focused. He’s got a great chance.
Brown added that the results and times may have looked similar to previous years, but “the stress on the pit wall” was heightened as Verstappen and Leclerc put pressure on his drivers.
A slight curiosity. For the third year running … the podium places in Monaco ended up populated just as the first three started on the grid. Last year: Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz; in 2023 Verstappen, Alonso Ocon.
Full results to follow.
Greetings all. It’s anthem time in Monaco, after trophies and champagne are handed out. McLaren CEO Zak Brown, incidentally, is beaming having been handed the trophy for the winning constructor – the 16th time the team have won this race.
CUE THE FIZZ …
That’s all from me. Stuart Goodwin is jumping into the cockpit for the last little bit. Thanks for all the emails.
“In all seriousness, Christopher’s anti-clockwise idea isn’t at all bad,” writes Dave. “But as a whole race. The net result would probably be the same but at least it would look different on TV …”
Here is the new top 10 in the drivers’ championship:
1. Oscar Piastri: 161 pts
2. Lando Norris: 158
3. Max Verstappen: 136
4. George Russell: 99
5. Charles Leclerc: 79
6. Lewis Hamilton: 63
7. Kimi Antonelli: 48
8. Alex Albon: 42
9. Esteban Ocon: 20
10. Isack Hadjar: 15
“It feels amazing,” says race winner Norris. “It’s a long race … we won at Monaco, it doesn’t matter how you win I guess.
“I dreamed of this. This is one of my dreams.
“The worst bit was the end. Max was ahead, Max was backing it up. I knew Charles had an opportunity. I still had to manage. I’m very happy, my team are very happy, and therefore, we’re going to have a wonderful night.”
Is Leclerc happy over all? “Not really. At the end of the day, we lost the race yesterday … Lando did a better job this weekend … considering everything it’s above our expectations coming here. It’s been a good weekend but I wish I won.
“It was good inside the car. When I saw Max was playing the long game, that helped me, to put a little bit of pressure on Lando.
“I wish I had given the Monégasques the win, hopefully next year.”
“The win would have been better,” says McLaren’s Piastri, the drivers’ championship leader, of his third place. “It’s been a tricky weekend. Practice was tricky … I went into qualifying with not a lot of confidence in how the weekend was going.
“If this is a bad weekend, it’s not going too badly at all. We’ll go again next week and come back stronger. Well done Lando and Charles as well.”
Norris is out of his car, and he goes to celebrate with his team. He gets a big hug from his chief executive, Zak Brown.
“Monaco, baby!” Norris said over team radio.
A few more ideas from readers for Monaco:
“At lap 39, make it anti-clockwise,” suggests Christopher.
“Pee stop,” says Patrick. “That’s the way to go. The fastest. Ok, they all must drink four pints (no beer of course). It will change the race.”
“Just remove it from the championship standings as a race,” says James. “Think more of a Calcutta Cup of F1. Exempt it from the cost cap and some other rules and have teams adapt their cars wacky-races style for this one weekend to take the glory. On race morning draw the grid out of a hat.”
Top 10:
Norris
Leclerc
Piastri
Verstappen
Hamilton
Hadjar
Ocon
Lawson
Albon
Sainz
Lando Norris wins the Monaco Grand Prix!
Job done for McLaren and Norris. The Briton’s sixth race win, his first at Monaco. His first this season since the opening race in Australia.
Lap 77/78: Norris leads!
Lap 77/78: Verstappen pits! He will finish fourth.
Lap 77/78: Verstappen and Red Bull have at least introduced some kind of intrigue with this doomed-to-failure late second stop strategy.
“Am I a minute behind?” fifth-placed Hamilton asks his team.
“Forty-eight seconds,” he’s told.
Lap 76/78: About three seconds separate Norris, Leclerc and Piastri in second, third and fourth. Then Hamilton is 45sec down.
Verstappen now has two laps left to pit again.
“While it might be true that the race as it is now is a bit of a dud, is it surely more appealing to force teams to change the cars rather than abandon Monaco altogether?” writes Liam.
“It’s still a beautiful place to race that newer tracks can only dream of, and the teams are the ones that ruined it by making cars too big to race effectively here. Force teams to make smaller cars, and bring back the drama… and ignore the dollar-shaped elephant in this email.”
Lap 74/78: Verstappen still leads! Max “One Stop” Verstappen, I call him.
“Y’all are forgetting one thing,” writes Michael. “Monaco is one of the most exciting races in the rain! So how about making a radical experiment and parking water trucks around the streets to shower the track with artificial rain. That’d liven things up as drivers smack into walls and barriers to keep the final placings doubtful until the checkered flag.”
Many moons ago, Bernie Ecclestone raised the prospect of artificial rain to spice things up in F1, not just at Monaco. And I immediately wondered – what would happen if a driver died in a crash in artificial rain? Not really an option, is it?
“Hi it’s Darren emailing from Lucca,” emails Darren in Lucca.
“My son Oliver says the way to make Monaco interesting is to make the cars smaller. In fact, it would make all the races more interesting, he reckons. And he loves F1.”
Lap 71/78:
Verstappen
Norris +1.110sec
Leclerc +0.198sec
Piastri +1.835sec
Hamilton +49.777sec
Lap 70/78: “It’s a no brainer for Red Bull,” Brundle says of Verstappen staying out. “If they get a red flag he gets a fresh set of tyres and keeps the lead.”
I’m not sure it’s a no-brainer. I reckon they’ve had to think about it. It’s actually a brainer.
“These new rules have not delivered,” says Craig. “Either change the track (there’s some nice wide roads nearby that could be incorporated in), lose the track or change the cars.”
“I have an idea,” writes Ayubu. Sounds dangerous.
“The top 10 cars should race with a puncture and the back 10 without their wings.”
“Apologies for my ignorance but what is the sanction/penalty if Verstappen doesn’t pit twice?” asks Andrew.
The answer is disqualification. Brundle just said so.
Lap 68/78: “I think it is better to make some changes to track rather than mandatory pitstops,” emails B.S.K. “We fans want to see racing as simple as that.”
“Brundle on Sky trying to figure out how to make Monaco more exciting fails to add one other option. Get rid of it,” writes David. “It’s a boring waste of everyone’s time and for all the talk of how glamorous and great it looks, neither of these things makes up for an annual three day non-event.”
Lap 66/78: On the telly, Brundle qualifies his earlier statement re: Verstappen potentially staying out. Apparently, Verstappen would be disqualified if he deliberately chooses not to pit again. So it wouldn’t just be taking a 30sec penalty or something like that.
Lap 65/78: “Verstappen should put on the last lap and deliberately hold everyone up to make a point lol,” emails Nick.
Lap 65/78: “What we’re seeing today emphasizes what we’ve known for a while,” emails Bill Taylor. “Monaco, storied as it may be, is no longer viable as a Formula One circuit.”
I quite agree.
Lap 64/78: “It’s sort of a negative thing, this pitstop rule,” emails Andrew Benton. “No one can do a pitstop in half the usual time, so the only change to the leader board could come if the stop is too slow and they lose a place or more. Seems that its a matter of trying not to mess up the position you started in, which is better than staying there in a procession to the flag, but less good than actual overtaking. Better than nothing though.”
Lap 64/78: “The new pitstop rules are a bit of a wild ride for a fan who’s trying to get back into F1 after not watching for near on a decade!” emails Ali.
Lap 63/78: Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton is the top five.
Did Brundle just say Verstappen is going to stay out and potentially take the penalty?
Lap 62/78:
“Hi Luke,” email Duncan & Shirley.
”If the reason for racing at Monaco is the spectacle and sense of history, then the TV coverage should focus on the celebrities, yachts, who lives in Monaco, attractive people.
“Then TV coverage can just flick to the occasional highlight when someone breaks down and the end of the race.”
Haha! Love it.
Lap 61/78: Is Verstappen going to aim for one stop and hope they don’t notice? Maverick move if so.
Lap 59/78: “I didn’t expect Yuki to make a move and under-brake,” says Gasly of his earlier race-ending shunt.
“Once we had the contact, it snapped the brakes.”
Lap 57/78: Verstappen is due another pitstop soonish. It does seem as if we are going to end up with a finish that looks much like the starting grid. Although there is still time for intrigue.
“As contrived, convoluted and confusing as the mandated double pit stops are, let’s not forget how awful Monaco GPs are,” emails Hugh. “This is interesting at least. The issue is the track, not the rules.”
“As a reader,” adds Egil, “action is necessary, pit stops exciting and Monaco sexy.”
Lap 54/78:
Your top five:
Verstappen
Norris +2.5sec
Leclerc +5sec
Piastri +11.4sec
Hamilton +22sec
Lap 53/78: Verstappen, still with one stop, is our on-track leader. He has 3sec on Lando Norris in second.
Marco Bezzecchi won a chaotic British Grand Prix for Aprilia’s first victory of the season in a race that was initially red flagged for an oil spill and riders crashed or retired while in the lead, including Fabio Quartararo.
Lap 52/78: I would say this is like watching paint dry, but that would be unfair. (On watching paint dry.)
Lap 50/78: Norris pits! He, Leclerc and Piastri have all pitted twice now.
Verstappen is our new leader after stopping once thus far.
Lap 49/78:
Top five:
Norris
Leclerc +13sec
Verstappen
Piastri
Hamilton
Lap 48/78: “It seems we’re talking more about pitstops than actual racing/driving, which seems a shame, since it’s a driving race and not a pit-stop contest,” writes Sheila.
And also:
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“Puts a lot more pressure on the pit lane staff I would think?
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Certainly makes for a more tactical race for the stables, which should have Ferrari nervous given past c*ck-ups.
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Be interested to know why Charles L said it was a joke, surely he’s had to pick off back markers in the past? What difference does the rules change make to that?
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You’ll note that for now, with one pit stop for each, the top 5 are in the positions they left the gird. So unless the 2nd stop changes that radically, could be ‘much ado about nothing’.”
Lap 46/78: “I have to say at this point it’s a bit confusing,” emails Alan. “But really a bit soon to pass judgement, after all, this is the first time this format has been used AND on one of the most difficult tracks there is. I’d give it three or four more races before we can see anything productive of this!”
The mandatory two-stop thing is for Monaco only though, right?
Lap 45/78: “Another artificial means of creating a race sussed by the teams already,” emails Philip. “They may as well try traffic lights as all else has failed to reduce the procession.”
